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www.parliament.uk/commons-library | intranet.parliament.uk/commons-library | [email protected] | @commonslibra DEBATE PACK Number CDP-2017-0156, 06 September 2017 16 to 19 Education Funding Susan Hubble Andrew Mackley Paul Bolton Summary This House of Commons debate pack briefing provides information and material in anticipation of the debate, entitled “16-19 Education Funding” and sponsored by Mr Nic Dakin, which will take place on Thursday 7th September at 3.00pm in Westminster Hall. 16-19 education in England is delivered by a range of providers including: schools, sixth form colleges, further education colleges, charitable and private providers; most 16-19 year olds study in FE and sixth form colleges. Funding is allocated by the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) and, since 2013/14, is a process which has used a national funding formula based on learner numbers and other factors such as programme costs and area costs. The national funding rate per student is £4,000 per year for 16 and 17 year olds and drops to £3,300 for 18 and 19 year olds. It has felt the impact of a number of policy reforms. Along with general FE funding 16- 19 funding has experienced a squeezed for the last few years. Partly in response to concerns by the sector it was announced in the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015 that the funding for 16-19 year olds would be protected in cash terms at the current national base rate of £4,000 for the rest of that Parliament. 16 -19 providers have experienced funding changes from a range of issues: the implementation of the national funding formula, the reduction in funding for 18 and 19 year olds and the introduction of compulsory post-16 English and maths for students who did not pass these subjects at age 16. The sector is also experiencing a demographic drop in the number of 16-18 year olds which has possibly led to an under- spend in the 16-19 budget. Future changes such as the introduction of the new T levels could also have an impact on some providers as resources are put into these new qualifications. Contents 1. Background to 16-19 Education 2 2. 16-19 Education Funding 3 2.1 National funding formula 3 2.2 Funding rate per student 4 2.3 Additional funding 4 2.4 16-19 budget allocations 4 Funding for 2017/18 5 2.5 16-19 bursaries 5 3. Current issues with 16- 19 funding 6 3.1 16-19 ‘funding dip’ 6 3.2 Removal of formula protection funding 6 3.3 English and maths provision 6 3.4 Reduction in 16-19 bursary funding 7 3.5 16-19 budget under- spend 7 3.6 Sixth form colleges (SFCs) 8 SFCs and VAT 9 3.7 Funding of Technical levels (T levels) 9 4. Parliamentary material 11 4.1 Written Parliamentary Questions 11 4.2 Oral Parliamentary Questions 23 4.3 Petitions 25 4.4 Early Day Motions 26 5. Press articles and notices 28 6. Further reading 30 The House of Commons Library prepares a briefing in hard copy and/or online for most non-legislative debates in the Chamber and Westminster Hall other than half-hour debates. Debate Packs are produced quickly after the announcement of parliamentary business. They are intended to provide a summary or overview of the issue being debated and identify relevant briefings and useful documents, including press and parliamentary material. More detailed briefing can be prepared for Members on request to the Library.

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www.parliament.uk/commons-library | intranet.parliament.uk/commons-library | [email protected] | @commonslibra

DEBATE PACK

Number CDP-2017-0156, 06 September 2017

16 to 19 Education Funding

Susan Hubble Andrew Mackley Paul Bolton

Summary This House of Commons debate pack briefing provides information and material in anticipation of the debate, entitled “16-19 Education Funding” and sponsored by Mr Nic Dakin, which will take place on Thursday 7th September at 3.00pm in Westminster Hall.

16-19 education in England is delivered by a range of providers including: schools, sixth form colleges, further education colleges, charitable and private providers; most 16-19 year olds study in FE and sixth form colleges.

Funding is allocated by the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) and, since 2013/14, is a process which has used a national funding formula based on learner numbers and other factors such as programme costs and area costs. The national funding rate per student is £4,000 per year for 16 and 17 year olds and drops to £3,300 for 18 and 19 year olds.

It has felt the impact of a number of policy reforms. Along with general FE funding 16-19 funding has experienced a squeezed for the last few years. Partly in response to concerns by the sector it was announced in the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015 that the funding for 16-19 year olds would be protected in cash terms at the current national base rate of £4,000 for the rest of that Parliament.

16 -19 providers have experienced funding changes from a range of issues: the implementation of the national funding formula, the reduction in funding for 18 and 19 year olds and the introduction of compulsory post-16 English and maths for students who did not pass these subjects at age 16. The sector is also experiencing a demographic drop in the number of 16-18 year olds which has possibly led to an under-spend in the 16-19 budget. Future changes such as the introduction of the new T levels could also have an impact on some providers as resources are put into these new qualifications.

Contents

1. Background to 16-19 Education 2

2. 16-19 Education Funding 3

2.1 National funding formula 3 2.2 Funding rate per student 4 2.3 Additional funding 4 2.4 16-19 budget allocations 4

Funding for 2017/18 5 2.5 16-19 bursaries 5

3. Current issues with 16-19 funding 6

3.1 16-19 ‘funding dip’ 6 3.2 Removal of formula

protection funding 6 3.3 English and maths

provision 6 3.4 Reduction in 16-19 bursary

funding 7 3.5 16-19 budget under-

spend 7 3.6 Sixth form colleges (SFCs) 8

SFCs and VAT 9 3.7 Funding of Technical levels

(T levels) 9

4. Parliamentary material 11

4.1 Written Parliamentary Questions 11

4.2 Oral Parliamentary Questions 23

4.3 Petitions 25 4.4 Early Day Motions 26

5. Press articles and notices 28

6. Further reading 30

The House of Commons Library prepares a briefing in hard copy and/or online for most non-legislative debates in the Chamber and Westminster Hall other than half-hour debates. Debate Packs are produced quickly after the announcement of parliamentary business. They are intended to provide a summary or overview of the issue being debated and identify relevant briefings and useful documents, including press and parliamentary material. More detailed briefing can be prepared for Members on request to the Library.

2 Number CDP-2017-0156, 30 August 2017

1. Background to 16-19 Education 16-19 education is delivered by a variety of providers including: schools, sixth form colleges, further education colleges, as well as charitable and private providers. The numbers of students vary considerably across these providers, a document by the Association of Colleges (AOC), College Key Facts 2016/17 gives the following data on the numbers of 16-18 year old students studying at different types of provider:

744,000 16-18 years olds choose to study in colleges (compared with 433,000 in schools).

In addition 75,000 16-18 year olds undertake and apprenticeship through colleges.

A table on page 9 of the AOC document gives a breakdown of where 16-18 year olds are studying or working:

• FE and sixth form colleges 37% • All state funded schools 22% • Special schools 1% • Independent schools 5% • Other education and training 5% • Apprenticeships 6% • Employment 7% • Higher education institutions 10% • NEET 6%

16-19 students study a wide range of courses from basic entry level courses to A levels and apprenticeships.

16 to 19 Education Funding 3

2. 16-19 Education Funding Providers receive annual funding allocations from the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) for the provision of 16 to 19 education. Information on how 16-19 funding is allocated is set out on the GOV.UK website at 16 to 19 Funding: how it works.

Since 2013/14 funding has been allocated using a national funding formula.

The chart below gives IFS estimates of the long run level of spending per head in different settings. After sustained increases in the level of funding per student from the late 1990s to around 2010/11 there have been real terms cuts in both sectors. The IFS projects that these cut will continue through to the end of the spending review period (2019-20).1

<Caption>

2.1 National funding formula The national funding formula (NFF) is used to calculate an allocation of funding for each institution, each academic year. An explanation of the NFF is given on the website 16 to 19 Funding: how it works:

How the funding formula works

We use a funding formula to calculate institutions’ allocations each academic year. These are the elements used in the formula

• student numbers, split into bands by size of programme

• national funding rate per student

• retention factor

• programme cost weighting

1 Long-run comparisons of spending per pupil across different stages of education, IFS

FE sector

School sixth forms

£0

£1,000

£2,000

£3,000

£4,000

£5,000

£6,000

1989–90 1992–93 1995–96 1998–99 2001–02 2004–05 2007–08 2010–11 2013–14

average spending per student in 2016-17 prices

Source: Long-run comparisons of spending per pupil across different stages of education, IFS

SPENDING PER STUDENT HAS FALLEN BACK FROM RECORD LEVELSIN 2010 AND 2011

4 Number CDP-2017-0156, 30 August 2017

• disadvantage funding

• large programme uplift

• area cost allowance

The individual funding for each provider is calculated using the formula:

(Student numbers X National Funding Rate per student X Retention Factor X Programme Cost Weighting + Disadvantage Funding) X Area Cost Uplift = Total Programme Funding

Calculating provider allocation is therefore complicated and each FE provider will receive funding based on its individual circumstances.

An overview of the elements of the formula are given on the website and details of the formula are set out in a document by the Education Funding Agency (now the Education and Skills Funding Agency) Funding guidance for young people academic year 2016 to 2017, April 2016 .

The data used to calculate each element is taken from data returns submitted by institutions. This information is mainly collected via the individualised learner record (ILR), for FE institutions, and the autumn school census, for schools and academies. Providers are therefore funded based on the previous year’s data returns – this is known as ‘lagged’ funding.

Additional information and data showing individual provider allocations is given on the GOV.Uk website at 16 to 19 education: funding allocations.

2.2 Funding rate per student The Government announced in the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 20152 that the funding for 16-19 year olds would be protected in cash terms at the current national base rate of £4,000 for the rest of that Parliament.3

The national funding rate per student for full-time students aged 16 and 17 without high needs is currently £4,000 per year. In 2014/15 the rate for full-time non-high needs students aged 18 and over was reduced by 17.5% to £3,300 per year. The reduction in funding for over 18s is discussed in a library briefing, Cuts in funding for 18 and 19 year olds, 23 January 2014.

2.3 Additional funding Formula funding is supplemented by additional funding for high needs students, bursaries and other financial support awarded to individual students and, currently, transitional protection and formula protection funding (FPF) to take into account changes from previous funding arrangements.

2.4 16-19 budget allocations Information on the budget for 16-19 funding over the last three years was given in answer to a House of Commons PQ on 13 July 2017:

Sixth Form Education: Finance: Written question - 4872

Asked by Mr Barry Sheerman

2 HM Treasury, Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, November 2015 Cm9162 3 Ibid., page 45

16 to 19 Education Funding 5

Asked on: 13 July 2017

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her Department's budget for 16-19-year-old education was in (a) 2014-15, (b) 2015-16 and (c) 2016-17.

Answered by: Anne Milton

Answered on: 21 July 2017

The department’s budget for spending on 16-19 education in the 2014-15 financial year was £6.2bn; in the 2015-16 financial year it was £6.1bn; and £5.9bn in the 2016-17 financial year. High needs funding is included in these figures but funding for student support is not.

Funding for 2017/18 Information on 16-19 funding for 2017/18 is set out in a letter to providers from the EFA on 21 December 2016, Funding for academic year 2017 to 2018 for students aged 16 to 19 and students aged 19 to 25 with an education, health and care plan.

Details of funding allocations for individual providers are available on the GOV.UK website at 16 to 19 allocation data: 2016 to 2017 academic year.

2.5 16-19 bursaries In September 2011 the post 16 student support scheme the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) was replaced by the 16 – 19 bursary. The value of this replacement scheme was around £180 million in both 2014-15 and 2015-16. This was less than one third of the level of spending on EMAs in cash terms.

There are two different types of bursary:

• Discretionary bursaries: as the name suggests, there is no fixed level of support, and institutions set eligibility criteria and support type (e.g., cash or in-kind help). They are designed for young people facing financial barriers to participation and needing help to stay on in education.

• Vulnerable student bursaries of up to £1,200. These can be paid to: young people in care; care leavers; and those in receipt of certain social security benefits in their own right.

Evaluation commissioned by the Department for Education (DfE) and published in 2014 found that the amount of discretionary bursary spend per student in 2013/14 varied considerably, from £60 to around £4,000. The median level of spending per student in 2013/14 was £447.

The House of Commons Library briefing CBP 06154, 16-19 bursaries for further education in England, discusses the bursary scheme.

6 Number CDP-2017-0156, 30 August 2017

3. Current issues with 16-19 funding The provision of courses and the numbers of students attending varies considerably across providers so the issues affecting individual providers will also vary – some providers may be more affected by some issues than others.

3.1 16-19 ‘funding dip’ Per-pupil funding for the 16-19 age group is lower than for higher education students and for pupils of compulsory school age – this difference in funding has been termed the ’16-19 funding dip’. The Association of Colleges (AOC) has said that there is a 20+% dip in funding once a pupil reaches the age of 16.4 In 2013 a number of organisations in the further education sector, including the Association of Colleges and the Sixth Form Colleges Association, wrote a joint letter to the then Education Secretary, Nicky Morgan, and the then Chancellor, George Osborne, asking them “to address the growing and significant disparity in the funding for the education of 16-19 year olds” and stated that

Members of our associations tell us that the substantial dip in funding, between pre-16 education and higher education is already having significant and adverse consequences for their continued ability to provide choice and high quality education to 16 to 19 year olds.

3.2 Removal of formula protection funding The NFF was introduced for 16-19 funding in the academic year 2013/14. Previously providers had been funded based on the number of qualifications studied by students. Under the NFF providers moved to a system of funding per student and the funding level was planned to cover up to 600 guided hours of study. Concern was expressed that providers offering large programmes of study could lose funding under the new system so a transition period of three years was instituted to protect providers who would otherwise have lost funding.

Formula protection funding (FPF) is being phased out from 2016/17 and the last FPF payments will be made to institutions in 2020 to 2021. The funding letter from the EFA in December 2016 stated that phasing out FPF should save the DfE substantial amounts of money:

Following the Spending Review, we also announced that £160 million savings would need to be made and that a significant proportion of this would be realised by phasing out Formula Protection Funding (FPF) over a six-year period. We will be taking the next steps in continuing to remove FPF as planned.5

3.3 English and maths provision As a condition of funding students who have not achieved A*-C, or equivalent in English and maths by age 16 are expected to continue to study towards achieving them as part of their programme of study. Funding will be removed from providers’ future allocations for students not meeting this condition.

For 2017/18 funding allocations, a tolerance of 5% was applied to funding reductions for institutions with students without A* to C GCSE in maths and/or English who did not

4 AOC, “Issues for colleges in the national school funding formula and high needs reform”, 8 March 2016 5 EFA, Funding for academic year 2017 to 2018 for students aged 16 to 19 and students aged 19 to 25 with

an education, health and care plan, 21 December 2016

16 to 19 Education Funding 7

enrol on an approved qualification in these subjects. Funding for these institutions was removed for each student above the 5% tolerance level at half the national funding rate.

3.4 Reduction in 16-19 bursary funding In 2016/17 the discretionary portion of the 16-19 bursary funding was reduced to take account of the provision of free meals for over 16s and to stop double funding in this area:

In academic year 2014 to 2015 we introduced additional funding for free meals for post-16 students attending colleges and other FE providers to provide parity with those young people attending school sixth forms. We will remove the ring fence between the free meals allocation and the discretionary bursaries allocation in academic year 2016 to 2017 to maximise flexibility for institutions receiving both allocations. The requirement to provide free meals for all eligible students who request them remains.

Prior to academic year 2014 to 2015 colleges and FE providers had been supporting the cost of meals for students who needed them on a discretionary basis from the discretionary bursary. The external evaluation of the discretionary bursary1 estimated that this represented over £15m of discretionary bursary spend annually. Provision of FE Free Meals is now established and in its second year of implementation.

In academic year 2016 to 2017 we will remove £15m from the budget in respect of this double funding. For academic year 2016 to 2017 discretionary bursary allocations will be adjusted to take account of this for those providers in receipt of an allocation for post-16 free meals.6

3.5 16-19 budget under-spend 16-19 funding allocations are based on lagged student numbers. This means that in any year the budget allocation may be higher than is needed based on the actual number of students that register for courses. This can result in an under-spend of the budget allocation. An article in FE Week in July 20177 discussed a two year underspend in the 16-19 budget caused by low student numbers:

A whopping £130 million per year has gone unspent in 16 to 19 funding for each of the past two years.

The budgetary underspend – attributed to low student numbers – was revealed in a parliamentary question, answered by skills minister Anne Milton, from former shadow schools minister Nic Dakin.

Mr Dakin asked how much of the Department for Education’s “budget allocated to 16 to 19-year old education was reallocated to other budgets in the financial years (a) 2014-15, (b) 2015-16 and (c) 2016-17”.

In response Ms Milton said that 16 to 19 budgets were set using “estimates of student numbers”:

“In 2014-15 and 2015-16 student numbers and associated costs were lower than these estimates, which resulted in lower spending than the forecast, by £135m and £132m respectively, representing 2.2% of the budget. This was available for reallocation,” she said.

Sector spokespersons said in the article that the under-spend should have been used by the 16-19 sector and not redeployed to other ministerial priorities:

James Kewin, deputy chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges’ Association, said that any underspend was “difficult to defend” in light of “funding cuts and cost

6 EFA, Funding for academic year 2017 to 2018 for students aged 16 to 19 and students aged 19 to 25 with

an education, health and care plan, 21 December 2016 7 “DfE confirms £267m underspend of 16-19 budget in last two years”, FE Week, 17 July 2017

8 Number CDP-2017-0156, 30 August 2017

increases” in 16 to 19 education that have led to courses being cut, class sizes increasing and support services being reduced.

“This money was intended for sixth form students and it should be spent on the education of sixth form students – every last penny should reach the front line,” he urged.

Julian Gravatt, deputy chief executive of the Association of Colleges, said that Ms Milton’s answer was “the first acknowledgement that there’s a sizeable underspend” in the 16 to 19 budget.

He argued that the unspent cash should have been used to “increase funding rates in line with inflation”.

“Instead colleges have been forced to cut back on courses and restrict teaching hours. The losers have been the current cohort of students,” he said.

Both the AoC and the SFCA, along with the Association of School and College Leaders, will be working to ensure the cash gets redirected back to schools and colleges, Mr Kewin and Mr Gravatt said.8

A PQ on the under-spend was asked by Gordon Marsden MP on 17 July 2017:

Sixth Form Education: Written question - 5438

Asked by Gordon Marsden

Asked on: 17 July 2017

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 13 July 2017 to Question 3811, what discussions she has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the use of the £267 million underspend in the budget for 16 to 19 year old education.

Answered by: Anne Milton

Answered on: 20 July 2017

The 16-19 budget set for each financial year is a forecast of anticipated spend. Actual spend varies from this because it is based on set funding rates per student. If actual student numbers are lower than forecast, the department works in conjunction with the Treasury to try to reallocate any underspends to other priorities in a way that maximises value for money. This could include a proposal to redeploy the funding to the next financial year. If alternative value for money activities cannot be identified, the funding is returned to the Treasury to support the overall fiscal position

3.6 Sixth form colleges (SFCs) SFCs have been particularly hard hit by the long term squeeze on 16-19 funding as these colleges are unable to cross subsidse their students in the way that schools and general FE colleges can.

The Sixth Form College Association’s funding impact survey report 2016 showed that many SFCs were experiencing financial pressure:

Two thirds (66%) of Sixth Form Colleges have dropped courses as a result of funding pressures

Over a third of colleges (39%) have dropped courses in modern foreign languages, with A levels in German, French and Italian the main casualties

The majority of Sixth Form Colleges (58%) have reduced or removed the extra-curricular activities available to students including music and drama, sport and languages

8 “DfE confirms £267m underspend of 16-19 budget in last two years”, FE Week, 17 July 2017

16 to 19 Education Funding 9

Three quarters of colleges (75%) have limited the size of their study programmes (the overall package of qualification and non-qualification activities available to students) – up from 37% in 2014 and 58% in 2015

In total, 84% of colleges are teaching students in larger class sizes

Over two thirds of Sixth Form Colleges (64%) do not believe the amount of funding they will receive next year will be sufficient to provide the support required by students that are educationally or economically disadvantaged

The vast majority of Sixth Form Colleges (90%) are either extremely concerned or concerned about the financial health of their college and 31% reported that it was either extremely likely or likely that their college will cease to be financially viable in the next three years.

SFCs and VAT Both schools and colleges have to pay VAT, however different arrangements apply to schools and colleges with regard to VAT, the difference was set out in a PQ in November 2010:

VAT: Sixth Form Education

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer for what reasons (a) sixth form colleges, (b) schools with sixth forms and (c) academies are not liable to pay value added tax; and whether he plans to review such tax arrangements to take account of the implementation of the proposed change in the status of sixth form colleges as part of a review of value added tax liabilities. [25214]

Mr Gauke: Education funded by local or central Government is not a business activity, so would not be subject to VAT if it was charged for. However, schools and sixth form colleges, in common with everyone else, are liable to pay VAT on the taxable goods and services they purchase. The Chancellor has no plans to review this.

Those institutions are currently funded for these costs either through up-front central Government funding or, if they are local authority controlled schools, through a mechanism in section 33 of the VAT Act 1994.(HC Deb 23 November 2010 c285)

Following a sustained campaign on this issue it was announced in the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015 that SFC’s would be given the opportunity to become academies and this would allow them to recover their non-business VAT costs.9

3.7 Funding of Technical levels (T levels) The Government is introducing new qualifications for 16-19 year olds in 2019/20, these Technical levels are discussed in Library briefing paper CBP 7951, Technical education reforms 21 June 2017.

In the March Budget 2017 the Chancellor pledged £500 million additional funding to pay for the new qualification, this was discussed in an article in FE Week:

The Budget will invest new funding in FE from 2019 to pay for increasing the amount of training for 16 to 19-year-olds by more than 50 per cent to over 900 hours a year.

This will come as a welcome surprise to the FE sector, as when the Sainsbury reforms were first outline in the Post-16 Skills Plan last June it was to be achieved “within current budget constraints.”

But today the Treasury has confirmed that at the Spring Budget, on Wednesday, the Chancellor will put in an additional £100m for the first teaching on new technical education routes in 2019/20 (the final year of this spending review period).

9 HM Treasury, Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, November 2015 Cm9162 p45

10 Number CDP-2017-0156, 30 August 2017

This will rise each year as more routes are introduced, until there is teaching on all 15 routes in September 2022, when the extra funding will reach an annual figure “over £500m”.10

The increased funding has been welcomed by the sector but some spokespersons have expressed concern about the impact of this extra funding on the funding of other mainstream qualifications and academic courses for 16-19 year olds:

Malcolm Trobe, interim general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “We fully support the planned investment in technical education and proposals to increase its provision for 16-19 year olds, but the government also needs to ensure that overall funding levels are sufficient in both pre-16 and post-16 education.”11

In anticipation of this debate, the Sixth Form College Association and the Association of Colleges have each prepared briefings which outline the issues from their perspectives, as well as their proposals. They are: • The Sixth Form College Association, ‘Briefing for MPs: Westminster Hall debate on

16 to 19 education funding’. • Association of Colleges, ‘Briefing for Nic Dakin debate on SFCs’.

10 “Chancellor to announce ‘over £500m’ per year in extra funding for post-16 skills reform”, FE Week, 4

March 2017 11 “Budget 2017: Sector hails Hammond’s ‘breakthrough budget’ for skills”, FE Week, 8 March 2017

16 to 19 Education Funding 11

4. Parliamentary material

4.1 Written Parliamentary Questions • Sixth Form Education: Finance

Asked by: Sheerman, Mr Barry | Party: Labour Party · Cooperative Party

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her Department's budget for 16-19-year-old education was in (a) 2014-15, (b) 2015-16 and (c) 2016-17.

Answering member: Anne Milton | Party: Conservative Party | Department: Department for Education

The department’s budget for spending on 16-19 education in the 2014-15 financial year was £6.2bn; in the 2015-16 financial year it was £6.1bn; and £5.9bn in the 2016-17 financial year. High needs funding is included in these figures but funding for student support is not.

21 Jul 2017 | Written questions | Answered | House of Commons | 4872

Date tabled: 13 Jul 2017 | Date for answer: 17 Jul 2017 | Date answered: 21 Jul 2017

• Sixth Form Education

Asked by: Marsden, Gordon | Party: Labour Party

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 13 July 2017 to Question 3811, what discussions she has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the use of the £267 million underspend in the budget for 16 to 19 year old education.

Answering member: Anne Milton | Party: Conservative Party | Department: Department for Education

The 16-19 budget set for each financial year is a forecast of anticipated spend. Actual spend varies from this because it is based on set funding rates per student. If actual student numbers are lower than forecast, the department works in conjunction with the Treasury to try to reallocate any underspends to other priorities in a way that maximises value for money. This could include a proposal to redeploy the funding to the next financial year. If alternative value for money activities cannot be identified, the funding is returned to the Treasury to support the overall fiscal position.

20 Jul 2017 | Written questions | Answered | House of Commons | 5438

Date tabled: 17 Jul 2017 | Date for answer: 20 Jul 2017 | Date answered: 20 Jul 2017

• Sixth Form Education: Finance

Asked by: Hopkins, Kelvin | Party: Labour Party

12 Number CDP-2017-0156, 30 August 2017

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much of her Department's budget for 16-to-19 education was not spent on education for that age group in each of the (a) 2014-15, (b) 2015-16 and (c) 2016-17 financial years.

Answering member: Anne Milton | Party: Conservative Party | Department: Department for Education

Budgets for 16 to 19-year-old education are set on the basis of the established 16 to 19 funding rates and formula, using estimates of student numbers.

In 2014-15 and 2015-16, student numbers and associated costs were lower than these estimates, which resulted in lower spending than the forecast, by £135m and £132m respectively, representing 2.2% of the budget.

Final expenditure is not yet available for 2016-17 and will be published in the Education and Skills Funding Agency accounts shortly.

18 Jul 2017 | Written questions | Answered | House of Commons | 4978

Date tabled: 13 Jul 2017 | Date for answer: 18 Jul 2017 | Date answered: 18 Jul 2017

• Sixth Form Education: Finance

Asked by: Dakin, Nic | Party: Labour Party

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding her Department allocated to 16 to 19-year-old education in each financial year since 2014-15.

Answering member: Anne Milton | Party: Conservative Party | Department: Department for Education

Department for Education expenditure on 16 to 19-year-old education is reported in Education Funding Agency (EFA) accounts. The 2014-15 accounts are published here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/526237/efa_annual_report_and_accounts_final_26_may_2016.pdf.

The relevant information is included in the following lines from table 5 (Programme Costs) on page 155:

• Local authority maintained schools with sixth forms; • Academies with sixth forms; and • Young people aged 16-19 years in further education.

The 2015-16 accounts are published here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/579174/EFA_annual_report_and_accounts_2015_to_2016__Web_Accessible_.pdf:

The relevant information is included in the following lines from table 3 (Grant Expenditure) on page 115:

16 to 19 Education Funding 13

• Local authority and other maintained schools with sixth forms; • Academies – Grants to academies with sixth forms; and • 16-19 Further Education.

The accounts for 2016-17 have not yet been published.

Funding allocations to the sector, are made on an academic year basis rather than by financial year. Allocations are published each year and the data for 2014/15, 2015/16 and 2016/17 is available here:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/16-to-19-education-funding-allocations#published-allocations.

Funding allocations for 2017/18 have not yet been published. Funding for 16 to 19-year-old education includes Total Programme Funding and High Needs funding in the allocations tables.

As EFA accounts are published by financial year, and funding allocations are made by academic year, the two sets of figures are not directly comparable.

12 Jul 2017 | Written questions | Answered | House of Commons | 3689

Date tabled: 07 Jul 2017 | Date for answer: 12 Jul 2017 | Date answered: 12 Jul 2017

• Education: Finance

Asked by: McMahon, Jim | Party: Labour Party · Cooperative Party

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans the Government has to increase funding for (a) primary, (b) secondary and (c) further education in each of the next three years.

Answering member: Nick Gibb | Party: Conservative Party | Department: Department for Education

This Government will continue to work to ensure that every pupil has the opportunity to attend a good school and that all schools are fairly funded. The core schools budget has been protected in real terms since 2010 and is set to rise from £41 billion in 2017-18 to over £42 billion in 2019-20 with increasing pupil numbers.

With regard to further education, the Chancellor announced, in the 2017 spring budget, a substantial investment in technical education for 16-19 year olds, rising eventually to an additional £500 million a year. At the same time, we will continue to protect the national funding rate for full time 16 and 17-year-olds in all types of institutions at £4,000. Schools and colleges also receive additional funding to reflect increased costs, including for disadvantaged students, higher cost technical courses, and large academic programmes.

03 Jul 2017 | Written questions | Answered | House of Commons | 749

Date tabled: 22 Jun 2017 | Date for answer: 26 Jun 2017 | Date answered: 03 Jul 2017

14 Number CDP-2017-0156, 30 August 2017

• Further Education: Finance

Asked by: Rayner, Angela | Party: Labour Party

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to invest in further education colleges involve additional (a) revenue and (b) capital funding.

Answering member: Anne Milton | Party: Conservative Party | Department: Department for Education

My Department wants to make sure that English technical education rivals the best in the world and is looking at policy options for investment in further education colleges to make sure they have world-class equipment and facilities.

In the March Budget, the Government committed to increasing the number of programme hours of training for 16-19 year olds on technical routes by more than 50% to over 900 hours a year on average, including the completion of a high quality industry work placement during the programme. To ensure the routes are well designed, and colleges properly prepared, funding will be increased in line with this roll out, with over £500 million of additional funding invested per year once routes are fully implemented.

The Government’s aim is to encourage students to continue their training at high quality institutions such as National Colleges or Institutes of Technology to develop the high level skills employers demand. From 2019-20, the government will provide maintenance loans, like those available to university students to students on technical education courses at levels 4 to 6 in National Colleges and Institutes of Technology.

03 Jul 2017 | Written questions | Answered | House of Commons | 529

Date tabled: 21 Jun 2017 | Date for answer: 26 Jun 2017 | Date answered: 03 Jul 2017

• Sixth Form Education

Asked by: Lucas, Caroline | Party: Green Party

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Answer of 24 April 2017 to Question 71090, how much spending was forecast to be spent on education for 16 to 19-year-olds as a result of announcements in the Autumn Statement 2015; and how much was allocated to institutions offering education to 16 to 19-year-olds as a result of those announcements.

Answering member: Anne Milton | Party: Conservative Party | Department: Department for Education

Following the 2015 Autumn Statement, the department’s budget for spending on 16-19 education in the 2016-17 financial year was £5.9bn. High needs funding is included in this figure but funding for student support is not. The funding allocations for institutions in the 2016/17 academic year can be found at the following location:

16 to 19 Education Funding 15

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/16-to-19-education-funding-allocations#published-allocations.

30 Jun 2017 | Written questions | Answered | House of Commons | 1097

Date tabled: 26 Jun 2017 | Date for answer: 28 Jun 2017 | Date answered: 30 Jun 2017

• Further Education: West Midlands

Asked by: Cunningham, Mr Jim | Party: Labour Party

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the (a) planned and (b) actual expenditure on 16 to 19 education provision was in each of the last three years in the West Midlands.

Answering member: Robert Halfon | Party: Conservative Party | Department: Department for Education

The data are in the public domain and can be sourced at the following location:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/16-to-19-education-funding-allocations#published-allocations

71279 - we do not hold constituency details for institutions so are unable to provide the required information for Coventry South so the above shows data for Coventry local authority as a whole.

71280 - the data provided for West Midlands consists of those local authorities that are grouped into the EFA region West Midlands.

16-19 funding operates under a lagged funding methodology which uses historic funding factors and student numbers to calculate a funding allocation for each of our c.3,300 funded institutions for each academic year.

With the exception of c.150 commercial and charitable providers we do not reconcile institutions’ allocated funding to their actual expenditure or funding earned, so we do not operate post 16 funding on the basis of planned and actual expenditure.

The figures quoted above represent the actual allocations made to institutions for the stated academic years, based on the lagged principle explained above.

24 Apr 2017 | Written questions | Answered | House of Commons | 71280

Date tabled: 19 Apr 2017 | Date for answer: 24 Apr 2017 | Date answered: 24 Apr 2017

• Further Education: Coventry South

Asked by: Cunningham, Mr Jim | Party: Labour Party

16 Number CDP-2017-0156, 30 August 2017

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the (a) planned and (b) actual expenditure on 16 to 19 education provision was in each of the last three years in Coventry South constituency.

Answering member: Robert Halfon | Party: Conservative Party | Department: Department for Education

The data are in the public domain and can be sourced at the following location:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/16-to-19-education-funding-allocations#published-allocations

71279 - we do not hold constituency details for institutions so are unable to provide the required information for Coventry South so the above shows data for Coventry local authority as a whole.

71280 - the data provided for West Midlands consists of those local authorities that are grouped into the EFA region West Midlands.

16-19 funding operates under a lagged funding methodology which uses historic funding factors and student numbers to calculate a funding allocation for each of our c.3,300 funded institutions for each academic year.

With the exception of c.150 commercial and charitable providers we do not reconcile institutions’ allocated funding to their actual expenditure or funding earned, so we do not operate post 16 funding on the basis of planned and actual expenditure.

The figures quoted above represent the actual allocations made to institutions for the stated academic years, based on the lagged principle explained above.

24 Apr 2017 | Written questions | Answered | House of Commons | 71279

Date tabled: 19 Apr 2017 | Date for answer: 24 Apr 2017 | Date answered: 24 Apr 2017

• Secondary Education: Expenditure

Asked by: Hopkins, Kelvin | Party: Labour Party

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the (a) planned and (b) actual expenditure on 16-19 education was in each of the last three years.

Answering member: Robert Halfon | Party: Conservative Party | Department: Department for Education

The data for the last 3 years allocations are in the public domain and can be sourced at the following location:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/16-to-19-education-funding-allocations#published-allocations

16-19 funding operates under a lagged funding methodology which uses historic funding factors and student numbers to calculate a funding

16 to 19 Education Funding 17

allocation for each of our c.3,300 funded institutions for each academic year.

With the exception of c.150 commercial and charitable providers we do not reconcile institutions’ allocated funding to their actual expenditure or funding earned, so we do not operate post 16 funding on the basis of planned and actual expenditure.

The figures quoted above represent the actual allocations made to institutions for the stated academic years, based on the lagged principle explained above.

24 Apr 2017 | Written questions | Answered | House of Commons | 71090

Date tabled: 18 Apr 2017 | Date for answer: 24 Apr 2017 | Date answered: 24 Apr 2017

• Further Education: Expenditure

Asked by: Rayner, Angela | Party: Labour Party

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much the former Department for Business, Innovation and Skills spent on post-16 education and skills in the last year for which data is available.

Answering member: Robert Halfon | Party: Conservative Party | Department: Department for Education

The latest figures we have available are for 2015-16 and in that year both the Department for Education and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills funded post-16 education and training. The breakdown is as follows:

• Funding for 16 to 19 year olds in colleges, school sixth forms, and commercial and charitable providers was £5,918 million;

• Apprenticeships funding for 16-18 year olds was £730 million; • Further Education funding for those aged 19 and above (including

adult apprenticeships) was £2,409 million.

These figures show funding for participation only and exclude financial support.

Furthermore, by 2020, funding available to support adult FE participation is planned to be higher than at any time in England’s history. We have also protected the base rate of funding at £4,000 per student for all types of 16-19 providers until 2020. And as announced in the Budget, there will subsequently be over £500 million per year of additional funding for 16-19 to deliver the new Technical routes once they are fully rolled out.

23 Mar 2017 | Written questions | Answered | House of Commons | 68199

Date tabled: 15 Mar 2017 | Date for answer: 20 Mar 2017 | Date answered: 23 Mar 2017

18 Number CDP-2017-0156, 30 August 2017

• Further Education: Warrington

Asked by: Jones, Helen | Party: Labour Party

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the (a) capital and (b) revenue costs of the Future Tech Studio in Warrington.

Answering member: Edward Timpson | Party: Conservative Party | Department: Department for Education

For reasons of commercial confidentiality and to ensure that the department and the free school proposers are able to maintain strong bargaining positions during negotiations, capital costs are not disclosed before costs are finalised. Capital funding for open free schools, UTCs and studio schools where costs have been finalised are published on Gov.UK at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/capital-funding-for-open-free-schools. The final capital costs Future Tech Studio in Warrington have not yet been published but are due to be included in the next publication round in coming months.

The revenue costs are publish online as follows -

Schools block funding allocations are published on Gov.UK. The link for Pre 16: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/schools-block-funding-allocations-2016-to-2017 and post 16 Data: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/16-to-19-education-funding-allocations.

Pre and posting open grant allocations for studio schools are published on Gov.UK at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/revenue-spending-on-open-and-withdrawn-utcs-and-studio-schools

Pupil premium: allocations and conditions of grant are published on Gov.uk at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/pupil-premium-information-for-schools-and-alternative-provision-settings.

15 Mar 2017 | Written questions | Answered | House of Commons | 66935

Date tabled: 07 Mar 2017 | Date for answer: 09 Mar 2017 | Date answered: 15 Mar 2017

• Academies: Sports

Asked by: Mann, John | Party: Labour Party

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much public funding has been allocated to each (a) football and (b) other sports academy for 16 to 19 year olds in each of the last three years; and how many participants dropped out of those academies in each of the last three years.

Answering member: Robert Halfon | Party: Conservative Party | Department: Department for Education

16 to 19 Education Funding 19

The Department for Education funds sports provision in a wide range of schools, colleges and other providers. The Department does not directly fund any football or other sport academies, but it does fund League Football Education and the FA Premier League Limited for delivery of education and training in association with football clubs. Some education and training linked to football clubs is also delivered through sub-contracting arrangements with funded institutions. The Department does not hold information on the numbers of students who drop out from sports academies.

The Department currently funds 16 to 19 provision in 36 schools and academies that have sports as a specialism and are identified as such in their title. The allocations to those schools and academies, along with the allocations for all other 16 to 19 provision, are published online at the following links:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/16-to-19-allocation-data-2016-to-2017-academic-year

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sfa-funding-allocations-to-training-providers-2016-to-2017

Most students enrolled on sports provision are enrolled on general qualifications that are not specific to any particular sport.

05 Dec 2016 | Written questions | Answered | House of Commons | 55137

Date tabled: 28 Nov 2016 | Date for answer: 30 Nov 2016 | Date answered: 05 Dec 2016

• Armed Forces: GCSE

Asked by: Timms, Stephen | Party: Labour Party

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether armed forces trainees are included in the policy of ensuring that by 2020 young people who do not achieve A* to C passes in English and mathematics GCSEs at age 16 resit their exams a year later.

Answering member: Nick Gibb | Party: Conservative Party | Department: Department for Education

The Department for Education sets a requirement that young people who do not achieve a GCSE grade C in English or mathematics by age 16 should continue the study of these subjects. This requirement applies only to 16-19 study programmes funded by the Education Funding Agency (EFA) and is set out in a funding condition for schools and colleges which receive EFA funding. The requirement would therefore apply to any member of the armed forces undertaking EFA-funded 16-19 programmes. It would not apply to requirements for training provided and funded by the armed forces, which are a matter for the Ministry of Defence.

15 Jun 2016 | Written questions | Answered | House of Commons | 38405

20 Number CDP-2017-0156, 30 August 2017

Date tabled: 24 May 2016 | Date for answer: 06 Jun 2016 | Date of holding answer: 06 Jun 2016 | Date answered: 15 Jun 2016

• Pupil Premium: Summer Schools

Asked by: Cooper, Julie | Party: Labour Party

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 4 February 2016 to Question 24532, how much funding from the pupil premium her Department plans to make available to support schools in delivering summer school programmes in 2016.

Answering member: Mr Sam Gyimah | Party: Conservative Party | Department: Department for Education

A decision to end the summer schools programme was made as part of the Spending Review in autumn 2015, and the ending of this specific grant in 2016/17 was included in revenue funding information published on 17 December 2015 in the Education Funding Agency bulletin to schools, colleges, local authorities and other 16 to 19 providers. A copy of this bulletin is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/efa-e-bulletin-17-december-2015-issue-112.

Schools can continue to run a summer school if they wish to, and they will be able to use their pupil premium allocation to fund places for their disadvantaged pupils. Schools are held to account for the progress and attainment of their disadvantaged pupils through performance tables and Ofsted inspection. The Department does not monitor how individual schools spend the pupil premium.

15 Mar 2016 | Written questions | Answered | House of Commons | 30407

Date tabled: 09 Mar 2016 | Date for answer: 11 Mar 2016 | Date answered: 15 Mar 2016

• Unemployment: Young People

Asked by: Sheerman, Mr Barry | Party: Labour Party · Cooperative Party

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what funding his Department allocated in (a) 2011-12 and (b) 2015-16 to reduce the number of people who were classified as not in education, employment or training.

Answering member: Nick Boles | Party: Conservative Party | Department: Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

Further education funding is demand led. We do not allocate funding to specific groups but our entitlements are aimed at supporting disadvantaged groups, including the unemployed.

168,900 benefit claimants aged 19-24 started further education training in 2013/14, compared to 132,000 in 2011/12.

16 to 19 Education Funding 21

15 Mar 2016 | Written questions | Answered | House of Commons | 30032

Date tabled: 07 Mar 2016 | Date for answer: 09 Mar 2016 | Date answered: 15 Mar 2016

• Further Education: Lancashire

Asked by: Cooper, Julie | Party: Labour Party

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many students currently attend further education colleges in (a) East Lancashire and (b) Burnley.

Answering member: Nick Boles | Party: Conservative Party | Department: Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

Information on the number of government funded further education learners at each further education provider is published online at the FE Data Library.

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fe-data-library-local-authority-tables

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/502598/feandskills-learners-by-provider-local-authority-learner-characteristics-1415.xls

The table provides a list of all further education providers, the local authority and local education authority of the provider head office, and information about the number of learners that attended in the 2014/15 academic year.

Funding allocated to training providers and colleges from both the Skills Funding Agency and the Education Funding Agency is also published online for academic years 2013/14, 2014/15 and 2015/16. Links to the funding numbers are provided below.

Skills Funding Agency:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sfa-funding-allocations-to-training-providers-2013-to-2014

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sfa-funding-allocations-to-training-providers-2014-to-2015

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sfa-funding-allocations-to-training-providers-2015-to-2016

Education Funding Agency:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/16-to-19-allocation-data-2013-to-2014-academic-year

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/16-to-19-allocation-data-2014-to-2015-academic-year

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/16-to-19-allocation-data-2015-to-2016-academic-year

22 Number CDP-2017-0156, 30 August 2017

Some further education colleges also receive government funding from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) for their higher education provision. Information on HEFCE’s recurrent grant allocations in the 2014-15 and 2015-16 academic years are published on their website:

2014-15 http://www.hefce.ac.uk/funding/annallocns/1415/institutions/

2015-16 http://www.hefce.ac.uk/funding/annallocns/1516/institutions/

Income Contingent Repayment (ICR) Student Loans are available to assist higher education students with the payment of their tuition fees. Information on tuition fee loans paid to individual higher education providers is published by the Student Loans Company at the following link for the Academic Years 2011/12 to 2014/15.

http://www.slc.co.uk/official-statistics/financial-support-awarded/england-higher-education.aspx

01 Mar 2016 | Written questions | Answered | House of Commons | 27625

Date tabled: 22 Feb 2016 | Date for answer: 24 Feb 2016 | Date answered: 01 Mar 2016

• Students: Finance

Asked by: Godsiff, Mr Roger | Party: Labour Party

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if the Government will consider making young adult carers eligible for the vulnerable groups component of the bursary which provides financial support for 16 to 19 year olds.

Answering member: Mr Sam Gyimah | Party: Conservative Party | Department: Department for Education

The Government recognises the valuable service that young carers provide both to their community and their families. It is vital that they are not disadvantaged in their education, and have the same access to education, career choices, and wider opportunities as other young people.

In November 2015, officials from the Education Funding Agency met representatives from the Carers Trust to discuss how best to support young carers through the 16-19 bursary fund. We will work with the National Association of Managers of Student Services to review the use of the discretionary bursary fund and amend our funding guidance to ensure that institutions prioritise the needs of young carers.

05 Jan 2016 | Written questions | Answered | House of Commons | 20665

Date tabled: 17 Dec 2015 | Date for answer: 05 Jan 2016 | Date answered: 05 Jan 2016

16 to 19 Education Funding 23

4.2 Oral Parliamentary Questions • Further Education: Expenditure

Asked by: Rayner, Angela | Party: Labour Party

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much the former Department for Business, Innovation and Skills spent on post-16 education and skills in the last year for which data is available.

Answering member: Robert Halfon | Party: Conservative Party | Department: Department for Education

The latest figures we have available are for 2015-16 and in that year both the Department for Education and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills funded post-16 education and training. The breakdown is as follows:

• Funding for 16 to 19 year olds in colleges, school sixth forms, and commercial and charitable providers was £5,918 million;

• Apprenticeships funding for 16-18 year olds was £730 million; • Further Education funding for those aged 19 and above (including

adult apprenticeships) was £2,409 million.

These figures show funding for participation only and exclude financial support.

Furthermore, by 2020, funding available to support adult FE participation is planned to be higher than at any time in England’s history. We have also protected the base rate of funding at £4,000 per student for all types of 16-19 providers until 2020. And as announced in the Budget, there will subsequently be over £500 million per year of additional funding for 16-19 to deliver the new Technical routes once they are fully rolled out.

23 Mar 2017 | Written questions | Answered | House of Commons | 68199

Date tabled: 15 Mar 2017 | Date for answer: 20 Mar 2017 | Date answered: 23 Mar 2017

• Sixth-form Education

Asked by: Kelvin Hopkins | Party: Labour Party

Why are sixth-formers in England funded to receive only half the tuition time and support provided to sixth-formers in Shanghai, Singapore and other leading education systems?

Answered by: Robert Halfon | Party: Conservative Party | Department: Education

I am proud that we have equalised funding between sixth-form colleges and further education colleges, and that we have protected the base rate of spending for FE students and will be spending £7 billion this year on further education. We have funding pressures, as the hon. Gentleman knows, but we are doing everything we can to invest in our skills and education.

24 Number CDP-2017-0156, 30 August 2017

06 Feb 2017 | Oral questions - 1st Supplementary | Answered | House of Commons | House of Commons chamber | 621 c17

Date answered: 06 Feb 2017

• Unemployment: Young People

Asked by: Sheerman, Mr Barry | Party: Labour Party · Cooperative Party

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what funding his Department allocated in (a) 2011-12 and (b) 2015-16 to reduce the number of people who were classified as not in education, employment or training.

Answering member: Nick Boles | Party: Conservative Party | Department: Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

Further education funding is demand led. We do not allocate funding to specific groups but our entitlements are aimed at supporting disadvantaged groups, including the unemployed.

168,900 benefit claimants aged 19-24 started further education training in 2013/14, compared to 132,000 in 2011/12.

15 Mar 2016 | Written questions | Answered | House of Commons | 30032

Date tabled: 07 Mar 2016 | Date for answer: 09 Mar 2016 | Date answered: 15 Mar 2016

• Post-16 Education

Asked by: Mr Gordon Marsden (Blackpool South) (Lab) | Party: Labour Party

In the last Parliament, the Government cut education funding for 16 to 19-year-olds hardest of all. Today, we learn that funding allocations for colleges and schools for the 16-to-19 sector are down over £100 million so far compared with last year. The Government have given them further instability with the flawed series of area FE reviews, jeopardising colleges and their students. With this record, does the Minister have any guarantees for the spending review to secure viability for the 16-to-19 sector?

Answered by: Nick Boles | Party: Conservative Party | Department: Education

We might want to look over the channel to see what happens to an education sector when the Government are not getting a grip on spending and on ensuring a strong economy. In Portugal, schools have been closed and teachers laid off. In Greece, teachers have faced a 30% cut in their salaries. We are ensuring a strong sector that is able to educate young people for a life of work.

26 Oct 2015 | Oral questions - Supplementary | Answered | House of Commons | House of Commons chamber | 601 c9

16 to 19 Education Funding 25

Date answered: 26 Oct 2015

4.3 Petitions • Funding for Sunderland College

Funding for Sunderland College

The petition of residents of the UK,

Declares that the level of cuts to the further education budget will be damaging to Sunderland College and could lead to the ending of this essential education service and further declares that a petition on this matter was signed by 266 students and staff of Sunderland College.

The petitioners therefore urge the House of Commons to oppose these cuts, and to call for fair funding for further education in England.

And the Petitioners remain, etc.—[Official Report, 16 September 2015; Vol. 599, c.13P]

[P001545]

Observations from the Minister for Skills (Nick Boles): Sunderland College will receive around £25 million in education funding (£19 million from the Education Funding Agency, and £6 million from the Skills Funding Agency) for this academic year.

Adult skills funding

In the spending review announced in November 2015, Government committed not to cuts but to significant overall increases in spending on further education for adults. Funding for the core adult skills participation budgets will be protected in cash terms, at £1.5 billion. We will also double our spending on apprenticeships in cash terms by 2019-20 compared to 2010-11, including income from the new apprenticeship levy. In addition, we will expand Advanced Learner Loans to 19 to 23-year-olds at levels 3 and 4 and to those aged 19 and over at levels 5 and 6 to provide a clear route for students to develop high-level technical and professional skills.

This combination of measures means that the total spending power of the FE sector to support participation will be £3.41 billion by 2019-20, which is a cash terms increase of 40% compared with 2015-16.

16 to 19 funding policy

The funding for all institutions that contain 16 to 19 provision comes from the same national funding formula. The precise amount of funding is based on the numbers of students enrolled in the previous academic year and the types of study programme or training that the institution offers their students. As part of the spending review, we announced that we will protect the national base rate of £4,000 per student for the duration of this Parliament. This will bring stability to the sector, and demonstrates a vote of confidence in 16 to 19 education.

26 Number CDP-2017-0156, 30 August 2017

As such, 16 to 19 institutions will continue to be funded for an average of 600 teaching hours per year per full-time 16 to 17-year-old student. This supports a significant programme of study: for example, three A Levels and one AS Level, plus around 150 hours of enrichment or tutorial activity across each two-year course.

That said, like the rest of the public sector, 16 to 19 education will be expected to play its part in tackling the budget deficit, and will need to identify some further savings. The Education Funding Agency (EFA) have set out the detail of savings in 2016-17 within their annual letter to the sector, which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/16-to-19-funding-funding-for-academic-year-2016-to-2017 . The Department will set out as soon as possible details of the reductions which will apply in the remainder of the spending review period. For now, I can confirm that formula protection funding (FPF) will be phased out over the next six academic years, so the final year in which any FPF will be payable will be academic year 2020-21.

With regards to Sunderland College specifically, while the college has seen a reduction in their 16 to 19 allocation recently, this is almost entirely driven by declining student numbers. Indeed EFA analysis shows that the average funding per student at Sunderland College has seen very little change over recent years.

11 Mar 2016 | Petitions | House of Commons | 607 c4P

Answering member: Boles, Nick | Party: Conservative Party

Department: Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

4.4 Early Day Motions • 16-19 EDUCATION FUNDING

That this House notes that the protection in cash terms for funding per student for 16-19 year olds announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in November 2015 is likely to equate to a real terms cut of 8 per cent over the next four years after inflation is taken into account; further notes that funding for 16-19 year olds had already been cut by 14 per cent in real terms between 2010 and 2015; expresses its serious concern about the deleterious impact of these cuts on sixth form colleges, school sixth forms and further education colleges, with 72 per cent of sixth form colleges already having dropped courses and 81 per cent increased class sizes; and welcomes the campaigning by the National Union of Teachers, the National Union of Students, the University and College Union and others who are calling on the Government to invest in 16-19 education and not to subject young people to further damaging cuts.

09 Mar 2016 | Early day motions | Open | House of Commons | 1222 (session 2015-16)

Primary sponsor: Hopkins, Kelvin | Party: Labour Party

16 to 19 Education Funding 27

Other sponsors: Flynn, Paul · Godsiff, Roger · Durkan, Mark · Hunt, Tristram · Ritchie, Margaret

Number of signatures: 19

28 Number CDP-2017-0156, 30 August 2017

5. Press articles and notices Maths teachers hit out at 'extraordinary' funding decision

BBC News, 25 August 2017

How to get ESFA funding for post-16 education and training

FE News, 23 August 2017

Learndirect blames government cuts for damning Ofsted report

The Guardian, 17 August 2017

A Level students short-changed says the Association of Colleges

FE News, 18 August 2017

Department for Education pulls all Learndirect contracts and funding

The Guardian, 16 August 2017

A Level students short-changed says the Association of Colleges

Association of Colleges, 16 August 2017

'Please get behind the GCSE resits policy – and fund colleges properly'

Times Education Supplement, 4 August 2017

Colleges ditch A levels amid funding pressures

Times Education Supplement, 4 August 2017

SFCA welcome significant funding win for two year courses

FE Week, 2 August 2017

DfE confirms £267m underspend of 16-19 budget in last two years

FE Week, 17 July 2017

Investigation: Flagship 16-19 free schools under threat

Schools Week, 15 May 2017

Colleges call for cash to address post-16 funding 'crisis'

16 to 19 Education Funding 29

Times Education Supplement, 8 May 2017

Breaking: SFA and EFA merger confirmed and Lauener retiring

FE Week, 28 March 2017

Budget 2017: Sector hails Hammond’s ‘breakthrough budget’ for skills

FE Week, 8 March 2017

Hammond to spend £500m a year on technical education reforms

Times Education Supplement, 5 March 2017

Sixth form funding ‘tight’, admits Nick Gibb

Schools Week, 15 January 2017

Post-16 education has become the poor relation of the education system

The Telegraph, 18 August 2016

30 Number CDP-2017-0156, 30 August 2017

6. Further reading • Sixth Form Colleges Association, Briefing for MPs: Westminster

Hall, debate on 16 to 19 education funding, September 2017 • Association of Colleges, Briefing for Nic Dakin debate on SFCs,

September 2017 • House of Commons Library briefing CBP 06154, 16-19 bursaries

for further education in England

• Association of Colleges, College Key Facts 2016/17

• National Union of Teachers, Funding for 16-19 Education and

Sixth Form Colleges

• GOV.UK: 16 to 19 education: funding allocations

• Sixth Form College Association, Support Our Sixth Formers

Manifesto, 2017

• Education Funding Agency (now the Education and Skills Funding

Agency), Funding for academic year 2017 to 2018 for students aged 16 to 19 and students aged 19 to 25 with an education, health and care plan, 21 December 2016

• Education Funding Agency, Funding guidance for young people academic year 2016 to 2017, April 2016.

• Association of Colleges, Issues for colleges in the national school funding formula and high needs reform, 8 March 2016

DEBATE PACK CDP-2017-0156 30 August 2017

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